After Madras HC rap, MHRD vows to take measures to ensure quality of education maintained

Chennai:

After Madras High Court came down heavily on the approval process of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for engineering colleges, Union Minister of Human Resources Development M M Pallam Raju said that his ministry will take appropriate measures because there has to be some degree of accountability and quality should be maintained.

He said that as a fundamental right the Centre can’t stop anyone from starting a university but the ministry can work towards ensuring that the quality is maintained. “We are taking regulatory measures and encouraging institutes to go in for accreditation,’ he added.

Speaking during the 17th convocation of Sri Ramachandra Universiy here, the minister said that the 12^th five-year plan will focus more on quality of education. He also urged the states to respond to ensure quality in higher education. “States should make regulatory changes if they want universities and higher institutes to evolve towards adopting best practices,” the minister said.

He said that the centre has come out with Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha abhiyaan (RUSA) to promote higher education at state levels during XII plan period. RUSA is aimed at giving encouragement to innovation and research in institutions of higher learning and there is a proposal to have a National Mission on Teachers and Teaching to address issues related to teachers in holistic manner.

Earlier, addressing the students he said that the estimated loss for India due to deaths caused by all the diseases in 2005 was 1.3 per cent of GDP. “Due to increase in the number of non communicable diseases, this loss is estimated to increase to five per cent of GDP by 2015 if left unchecked,” he added.

He said that the Union government has set a target of attaining 30 per cent Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education by 2020.

Sri Ramachandra University vice chancellor J S N Murthy said that the university is due for reaccreditation by National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) in 2014 and is in the process of submitting the self study report to NAAC. A total of 247 students were conferred PhD, super speciality, post graduate and undergraduate degrees and diplomas.